Making a Home Together
by Halie.F.Burne
Summary: Yong Soo and Chun-Yan are seen to be opposites, but when one looks into their lives, their home, they can see how they fit together. FemChina South Korea. Might be updated might not, depends if I am inspired.
1. Home is Where the Heart Is

It had been a long time since they had lived together like this, the last time being when Yong Soo had still been not more than a child, and even then they had their whole family with them, but he still remembered every little thing. From the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled, to long nights curled up on the floor together when it was cold, much colder than it ever got now. Chun-Yan had been so strong then, the one they could depend on in times of trouble - hell she still was, but they all had their own homes now, only Yong Soo came back.

Yong Soo was never allowed to cook. That had been the first rule established, Chun-Yan liked her kitchen very much intact, thank you very much. Not that the Korean minded, his sisters cooking was the best! Even if there was always white rice served with it. Sometimes she tried to teach him how to make dishes, but it always seemed to end in disaster, and a very messy kitchen - still, she looked cute when she was covered in flour, and laughing her head off. Not so cute when she was, still covered in flour, ranting at him.

Yong Soo had to clean up after himself. This had been established after Chun-Yan had gotten sick and tired of cleaning up after him. Manners were everything, and he had to tidy up! It had been a hard habit to try and get the ever messy Korean into, but she was nothing if not stubborn. Anyway, it was more fun to cuddle in a clean room than a dirty one, she had reasoned. Well, when his sister put it that way… It still surprised the other nations he had lived with when the house was spotless.

Talking was important. Both of them had habits of keeping things to close to heart when upset or troubled, for Chun it stemmed from being alone for so long, and it had rubbed off on her younger siblings. Korea hid everything behind loud laughs, and bright, fake, smiles - he was a cheerful person, but no-one was happy all the time. Chun-Yan was much calmer, and you could tell when something was bothering her by the amazing amounts of food she would cook in a hurried frenzy.

They had to talk. To make this work they had to talk. And when the Chinese woman heard him sobbing in his room. And when he saw her twitching in agitation in a meeting. And when they both needed someone to hold them, to spill their secrets too, to be their friend, they needed to talk, because otherwise they would explode, or rot away in their own sorrows, burn within their anger, sharing, talking, it helped, more than anything. Both knew loneliness, heart ache, and hate - of course all of them did, but for some reason, they seemed to relate better to each other. They both bore scars inflicted by another member of the family.

To some they were strange, much to different to live together, but, messy house or clean, cheerful or sad, explosive or calm, young or old, they really were similar. Both needed someone to keep them calm and to drag them was in the long nights spent curled by the fire, murmuring secrets to each other, and the lazy afternoons under the hot summers sun, where they both let their worries fade away that it was obvious. They fitted together perfectly.


	2. China's Lack of Affection

Kisses weren't something they shared often, for all his boasting, and 'breast' groping (that only ever happened to the male nations, and to his family) and stupid innuendos, when the push came to shove, South Korea was almost strangely shy, physical affection between two such close people making him scared. Chun-Yan wasn't much help either, she wasn't shy per say, merely old, and not really one for all the luxuries of affection, too used to being used, abused and stabbed in the back.

She had been better once, he knew. He remembered a time - when he was still a tiny nation himself, not even that to be truthful, nothing really too important, barely a nation, just an area to be controlled, where Chun-Yan was still respectable, but open to affection with family too. He assumed the people who came and went were family anyway. Most were gone now, and with them left his memory was as fuzzy as ever, of course, a few still remained, like himself, Kiku, North Korea, as his twin was now called (he couldn't bare to say his name) and others, but the ones Chun-Yan had really been close to, the others of old were gone.

Times had changed, nations had come and gone in the blink of an eye, Chun-Yan stood as tall and as proud as ever, and even when she was battered, and bruised and beaten down by the ones she thought close (green eyes shone in his memory) she still maintained that entirely stubborn pride that he had always admired, and sometimes thought a little foolish, and had picked up on in his childhood.

The worst, he thinks, was Kiku. Chun-Yan had always been closest to his elder brother, the one with dark chocolate eyes, and an emotionless, doll-like face, who quietly, but firmly stated his opinions when asked, and refused to ever truly submit to her. Who had ultimately broken her heart.

She's getting better though, slowly, and there are times, when it's just the two of them, when they are laid together under the sun or moon, and whispering sweet, silly, stupid things to each other, that mean both nothing, and the world; that he see's her smile truly again, eyes sparkling and mouth stretched into the face-splitting grin, eerily similar to his own - where did they think he had learnt to smile that way after all? And he knows, she will continue to get better, till she smiles like that every day, at least once, and tells him all those little secrets of the past that she was too scared to tell before.

Her stories become more light hearted, but carrying a meaning much deeper than he can imagine, and sometimes, the barest hints of memories pull at him, but it makes his head ache, positively ache to try and grasp at them, so he nods and listens and lets the memories he has long forgotten try to drag him in, and tells himself 'Next time, next time'. She gives him strange looks then, but a flash of a smile, which is returned much more calmly makes her keep speaking, and he snuggles close, head in her lap like before, and she strokes his hair as she talks.

There are still tales she keeps to herself, things people know of happened, have hurt her, stories of loves long lost, yet the wounds are still too fresh and the scars still too sharp on the eyes, but he believes one day she will tell him. Not today, and not tomorrow, and not even the day after that, but one day. It will be a perfectly normal day, just like they always are she will tell him. And she will, he knows she will. Why?

Because she is learning, that Yong Soo, he, will not hurt her, or betray her, because, well because he loves Chun-Yan more than anything in the world, and that is all that matters.


	3. Korea's Shyness

Shy was not a word often associated with the southern half of Korea, in fact most would call him, outgoing, excitable, and even childish. And these were all true too, but not so much as they were all he was. The truest of them all, was perhaps, 'childish', because, children where never one thing, but in fact, many different things. Children were most definitely shy.

Chun-Yan knew that. She knew Yong Soo too, and he was shy, not always, and not with everyone, but he was shy about many things. It was most likely her fault as well, and also the fault of not yet being an adult, and having never been one either.

It was not uncommon for a nations age to fluctuate, for them to age rapidly, slowly or not at all, or to even de-age, it depended on many different factors, and almost entirely on the nation themselves, so it made it almost impossible to track. Take herself, still in the body of a young woman barely 24, whilst others, like France, and Spain, who's countries where much younger than her own, where physically older. And then there was Korea, who had been a child for so long, who still was.

It was no surprise that he was obsessed with the idea of romance, he loved the idea of being in love, and it was adorable really. She had been in love before, so many times, some more recent than others, and it could, _could,_ do more harm than good. So she would make it good for dear little Yong Soo, old yet impossibly young as well.

She didn't mind him hugging and cuddling and snuggling up, it was endearing really, and heart breaking too, because once, while he had loved cuddle time as much as he did now, he didn't crave affection from his family, and it was their fault for pushing him away. It was Kiku's fault for ruining him, seemingly long ago now, but the hate was still recent, and his people, people who had been at the Japanese wrath still survived, and so did their distrust. It was her fault, for siding with his brother during the split, because everything in her had screamed communism then, and poor little Yong Soo had been left dreadfully alone, with just America to side with.

And as kind and as loving and as nice as America seemed to be, and was, well to those who mattered to him, he could be just as cold as Russia, and he knew Yong Soo had just been used as another chess piece in his war with the Soviet Union. He had been polite to the South Korean, and kind too, but it was different to what Yong Soo was used too. Still he adapted quickly, and pulled himself up from the ashes of a war torn nation, with a fake smile plastered to his face.

Inside, she knew now, from the words he had told her, he had been aching for someone to just take it all away, it had been the first time he had represented a country, a nation, by himself, before, he and his twin had been inseparable, to halves of a whole, and they had represented together, there to catch the other when he fell. Then suddenly, there was no-one, he didn't want help from Kiku, he couldn't get help from anyone else either, it seemed, that there was no-on there to save him, and he had spiraled downwards.

It was hard to imagine, Yong Soo had always been the happy, childish, and bright one, but looking back, that smile was just a fraction too small to be true, and those eyes not sparkling the way they should. But she had been busy, too busy to notice. Now he took what he could get, he groped for affection, quite literally, from his family members, all except her.

Now she held him when asked, murmured words that meant everything to him, and told him he was safe, he could cry when he was with her - and if those hands where a little too tight for comfort where he held, she didn't mind. Yong Soo was her everything, and she vowed to be there whenever he stumble, tripped, fell, she would save him.

Because, she, Chun-Yan loved Yong Soo more than anything, because he always put her before him, let her talk without interruption when she needed, even if he wanted to cry, and she was going to put him first for once.


	4. It Originated in Me!

Their first date, or well, the first one that they considered a date at least - before then they had gone on many outings together, just the two of them, but they hadn't been dates in the traditional sense. Their first date had been just days after Yong Soo had moved in, and strangely, or perhaps not so, because the Korean teen, who was not really a teen, had always been rather dense, it was Chun-Yan who had asked him out. And autumn morning, with crisp, clean air, whilst she had been in his country, by his request. A vacation.

It had been a rather spur on the moment thing, but one she had been planning for months, because, god-forbid Yong Soo ever realised she wanted something like that. Okay, so she was being harsh, but romantically, her Korean was stunted, and had strange views and ideas of love, probably due to all those dramas he liked to watch. So yes, it had been an autumn morning, or perhaps it had been afternoon? An autumn day then. And they had been walking together through the streets, well, she said walking. It was more like Yong Soo dragged her along with loud proclamations, of how he had made something, how it had originated in him. His usual claims that most found annoying and self-centered, especially Kiku and Leon.

She knew better though, his obnoxious seeming, and sometimes crazy claims were yet another way of seeking attention from them all, a desire to be praised and congratulated. Okay, Yong Soo had always been proud of anything he had made, whether it be pictures or paintings or poems, and even long ago he had liked to show off and boast a little. Childishly endearing as usual, and she had always praised him for his work then. As the years went by, her praises, all of their kind words and well done's, became less common, Yong Soo had to work harder to earn it, do better, till he was getting more curses thrown at him in anger and annoyance than praise and smiles and rewards for doing well.

So, it was only natural that he started making larger than life claims, and like most things, this stemmed from being forgotten, ignored, hated and used during the Korean war, because he had meant little then, to all of the world, a tiny nation, cut off and far away, and if it hadn't been for America and the USSR's war of words and manipulation he would have had no help at all. So he started his claims, of how he had created things, that they knew he hadn't, it was so blatantly obvious he hadn't.

Kiku got it the worst at first, with Yong Soo pretending to have made Japanese inventions and creations to try and impress America, America of all nations! Sometimes Alfred believed the younger yet older nations wild claims, and other times he didn't, and it all seemed to spur him on further. When she had heard about it first, Chun-Yan couldn't believe it, because for all she knew, Yong Soo was sweet, shy and had never - rarely ever told lies, and never ones like this, not before. He had told the usual childhood lies of not having stolen the sweets, or getting dirty, but this... it made her recoil in shock.

And then it happened to her. It had been a world meeting, one of the first after both Korea's started to come again, sat on different sides of the room. They still did, but then, she had sat with the Northern twin, and Yong Soo had been far away. It had been a time of great divide, the Communist countries and their support on one side, they Capitalist nations and their support on the other, and a most awkward time too. Yong Soo had always hated awkward silences, so he tried to distract the other smaller countries on his side with his wild claims. She had expected to hear some Japanese invention claimed, but not something of her own, and they way they looked on, as if they believed it true, which many did, made her heart shatter and yet boil and burn with anger and hate at his lies.

She hadn't known then what she knew now. Now she could change things, and even if Yong Soo liked to claim inventions for his own, he never took hers anymore. It earned some nasty glares from the rest of the family, but she couldn't care less. She would build him up to be the nation he could be, strong and tall and proud, and not craving attention because he couldn't stand by himself.

He had been claiming things then too, on their outing, as he showed her around the wondrous, growing, blooming, city of Seoul, but these she knew were his own, his actors, his actresses, his politicians and people, and she couldn't find fault to blame on him, not then. And it suddenly spilled out, in the middle of a crowded Seoul street, with people all around them, she, Chun-Yan had asked him out. Blatant and bold and entirely out of character. For a few, heat wrenching, gut sickening seconds she waited for his answer, watched his face turn all shades from white to red and in between, before, in shock, he nodded a yes.

It had been one of the happiest moments of her entire life, and like a child she had wanted to scream and giggle and hug him in happiness. Of course, being the almost 4000 year old nation, and more importantly, and respectable lady, she hadn't, she had however grinned for the rest of the day, and planned the details of their to-be date in a tiny little coffee shop, over a table, whilst she drank tea and he sipped his mud coloured coffee, and resisted the urge to jump around in joy.

If they hadn't been Chun-Yan and Yong Soo they might have realised that they had been on dates and dates galore by any other standard, but they were Chun-Yan and Yong Soo and so they didn't, but they were happy and so, neither really cared to think of the details.


	5. Running is Loud Crying is Not

They were not perfect, anything from it really, as broken and as shattered as they were, and whilst most of the pieces fitted like a puzzle, there were some that didn't fit quite so well. After all, though Yong Soo and Chun-Yan were very similar, they also had their differences, and sometimes, it was even the similarities that made them bump heads. To many, and all others outside their very private relationship, it was always as kind and as loving as ever, but both treasure their private life, and neither wished to have the many noses and eyes of hundreds of prying nations in their private life. It was to be kept just that, private.

Yes, like any other couple, Chun-Yan and Yong Soo fought at times, and one who knew of their fighting, might even go as far as to say, they in fact argued and fought quite regularly with each other. Usually it was over little things, like, who was supposed to buy the milk, or water the plants, or feed the dog, well, the last one would have been so, if they had a dog, but the point still stands. Very rarely did they truly argue, in a way that people often do, where they shot out insults at a rate of many a minute, words that were barbed and twisted to really hurt one another, but merely gentle little arguments that let them blow off steam, and ones that usually end in laughs.

So arguments of the gentler kind were a daily thing, because both were quite stubborn, and quite prideful too, and if Yong Soo had forgotten to buy the milk, then he was not going to admit it so openly, even if it was the truth. Of course, Chun-Yan was as stubborn as Yong Soo thick headed, and would not let the younger off so easily. Still, as stubborn and thick headed as they were, neither wished to cause problems, where problems were not needed, and nine times out of ten, the milk was bought, or forgotten of in their playful actions.

Still, it remains to be said, that like all great couples, and more than a few, very average couples, they did fight, and though rarely, sometimes they did aim to hurt. What loved ones say, can often hurt the most, because while a stranger can mutter any old lie, that would perhaps hurt or cause tears, it is the ones held dear that know where to aim their barbs. And they are both old, perhaps Chun-Yan older due to her memories of long before, but he has been around almost as long, just a child, whilst she grew strong and powerful.

One such time, amidst such a fight, it arose that they both had cursed too badly at each other, and due to it being their first true fight since their whole affair had begun, neither could really deal truly with the other. Tears were soon to fall. They cursed, spitefully and hatefully at each other, using insults they had sworn to never say, and cutting deep with their words. How Yong Soo is useless, his brother should have ruled, how Chun-Yan is old and should just give up. How no-one liked him or her. How she would be left. How he would fade.

Yong Soo was a runner, someone who fled when it all got too much, a perhaps, childish way of dealing with pain, but Yong Soo is nothing more than a child really. He ran, and ran, faster and faster, till everything seemed to be a blur behind and in front of him, till he didn't know left from right, up from down, till his breath came in harsh and painful pants, that made him want to double up and cry. Yong Soo ran. Ran until he could run no further, till it would seem as if all his troubles were miles and miles away, and he was safe in his hiding spot, with the only pain he could focus on, being the pain in his chest and his legs, that ached ever so much, and just for a minute let him forget what he was running from. And when the memories return he runs again, an again without stopping, trying to reach a place that will stop the pain for just a minute, just a second more than the last.

Chun-Yan is different. She's a quiet one, a hide away, a silent one. She curls up, just herself, some small corner of the world, where she's sure that she won't be found, and then she cries. She cries till the tears no longer fall down her face, instead, just hiccuping and whimpers escape her. Till her eyes are round and puffy and red from all the pain she's let out. And then she cries some more, where no-one else but her can hear her sob, where only the sound of the wind comforts her. She is a lonely girl, and few ever see her cry like this, fewer can cause the sobs and tears to roll down her face.

They know this about each other. So when Yong Soo screams at her, before slamming the door behind him, leaving a silent Chun-Yan with wide brown eyes, she knows where he is going. And when she hides away from them all, he knows where she is. But they leave each other there, to torn and broken to say another word that day... or after.


	6. I Love You

Time goes by slowly when they're by themselves. It's quiet - too quiet for them both, in their lonely homes, away from each other.

Yong Soo tries to make up for it by playing loud music on top of war games, so that all he can hear is bounding k-pop and the sound of machine guns. It works until he's brought back to another time where guns featured heavily in his life, and then he turns the game off and cries about his past and his missing brother and about war, except this time there's no-one there to hold him, and that just makes him cry even more. He locks himself in his house, and his siblings come by, Kiku and Leon and Mei-Mei, all but one, but he doesn't let them in, no matter how they beg him to come out, or let them in, or do anything. He just ignores them. Eventually the visits stop. He's alone again. It's what he wanted he tells himself as he gets by on instant noodles and tea, but he still wishes someone was there to cook him proper food, because everything he tries to make ends up burnt.

Chun-Yan tries to make up for it with the sound of people. She throws parties and banquets and cooks all day, inviting anyone, everyone, from her fellow nations to people off the streets. She bounds about, talks to them, hears them laugh and cry and talk and talk, and it's never enough. When she can't be bothered to cook, when she's run out of ingredients or is just too tired, she went to clubs around the world. England, America, France, Japan, Canada. Everywhere she could think of, but never Korea. She drowns her sorrows in pounding music that hurts her ears and alcohol she knows she shouldn't touch. She remembers the last time she had drunk this much, and it just causes her to drink more. And in the morning she wakes with head aches and tears, and cries into the toilet, as her stomach tries to empty itself, and wishes someone was there to hold her hair back.

Then they bump into each other at the most unlikely of places, and it's crazily cliche and they both wonder if it was really a coincidence, because their siblings seem to be much too innocent to be true when they see them next.

It was the supermarket. Yong Soo had been dragged out, finally, by his sister Mei-Mei, the Taiwanese girl insisting that he had to come with her shopping for food, because he looked like a stick, and not even a healthy stick. Being as out of it as he was, he just nodded blindly, and hadn't even noticed as he'd been dragged to a place he knew all to well. His sister, was much to full of energy he had decided, and he could remember when he had been like that, not too long ago.

Chun-Yan had just been shopping, she had guests, and guests needed food, and food meant shopping, and shopping meant a trip to the store. She had busied herself with a list as long as her arm, and the sound of people in her ears. But while she heard them talk, it all blended together, the world monotone and grey, and she kept her mind to herself and her tongue in her cheek.

Yong Soo lost his sister in the vegetable aisle, confused by secretive looks and grins that seemed to wide to be true. She had been muttering along in her native language every now and then, and he was sure she was up to something but didn't know what. That was when he had seen the other woman. Chun-Yan looked lost, her face pale, and deep bags under her eyes, and he wondered for a minute if he looked that way too, and after a moment pondering, decided he most probably did, and a damned bit thinner too. She didn't notice him at first, so he felt content to just watch his ex-lover, were they exes really, yes, they were, he told himself, and looked away.

Chun-Yan saw him examining a cucumber, quite out of the blue, and almost dropped her basket in shock. In her eyes he looked terrible, skin pale and pallid, and clothes hanging limply off a skeletal frame, and she knew, she knew she shouldn't have left him to eat by himself. She missed him, more than anything in that moment, and she froze, because she realised, she hadn't been happy or good or anything the last few weeks. She had been alone. And so had he.

She missed him. He missed her. It was a simple fact, and as she realised it, she dropped her basket in shock, causing a clatter to echo around the store. Causing him to look up. In that moment they shared a look, one soft and secret between them, the world seeming to freeze in place for just a second. And then she was crying, and so was he. Loud sobs from the male, with thick tears that ran down his face in waterfalls. Her own crying was much more silent, not a sound escaping her, just trails running down her cheeks.

"I love you"


End file.
